In Greek mythology, Prometheus was punished by being bound to a rock and attacked by an eagle for the crime of bringing fire to humans. The time when he stole Zeus's fire has been pushed back by 350,000 years. Until now, the oldest evidence showing that humans used fire was from 50,000 years ago, but traces of fire use from 400,000 years ago have been found in Britain.
A research team led by Nick Ashton of the British Museum said in Nature on the 11th that "we have unearthed the oldest evidence of fire use, dating back 400,000 years, from a field in Suffolk in southeastern England."
The ability to make fire was such a major turning point in human evolution that Prometheus received such a harsh punishment in myth. Lighting fires kept out the cold, and cooking food improved nutrition and led to rapid brain growth. As a result, human societies also advanced. If the newly established timeline is correct, it becomes evidence that Neanderthals, extinct relatives of humans, used fire first.
◇Partial hearth and flint from 400,000 years ago identified
It is presumed that humans initially took embers from naturally occurring fires. In Africa, sites have shown that humans used natural fires from 1 million years ago. The oldest known evidence that humans intentionally kindled fire was a 50,000-year-old artifact found in northern France. Evidence from a Paleolithic site in Barnham, Suffolk, has pushed that period back by a full 350,000 years.
At the Barnham site, the team excavated clay fragments heated by fire, flint hand axes damaged by heat, and two pieces of pyrite. After four years of analysis, the clay was confirmed to have been burned by intentionally set fires, not by wildfires. The team said, "The clay was repeatedly heated above 700 degrees Celsius at the same location," adding, "The place where the clay was found suggests it was a campsite or a hearth used by people at the time."
Pyrite is a natural mineral that creates sparks when struck against flint and can be used to ignite dry twigs. The fact that pyrite is rare in the excavation area suggests that humans intentionally brought it from elsewhere for the purpose of making fire, the team said.
Archaeologist Ségolène Vandevelde of the University of Quebec said in a commentary published in Nature that "the paper is persuasive," and that "the discovery of pyrite associated with traces of flames serves as a keystone supporting the oldest case of fire production by humans."
◇Matches the period when Neanderthal brains grew
The findings are explained as evidence that Neanderthals, archaic humans, used fire. Neanderthals left Africa 400,000 years ago and settled in Eurasia. Until their extinction 40,000 years ago, they coexisted with Homo sapiens, the direct ancestors of modern humans, for 10,000 to 20,000 years. Homo sapiens left Africa around 70,000 years ago and migrated to the Middle East.
Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum, a co-author of the paper, said, "Considering the morphological features of contemporaneous fossils found at Swanscombe in Kent and Atapuerca in Spain, the people who used fire at Barnham 400,000 years ago were likely early Neanderthals," adding, "DNA of early Neanderthals has also been recovered from those fossils."
It had been confirmed before that Neanderthals used fire. In Jul., a research team in Leiden, the Netherlands, said it found evidence that Neanderthals lit fires from 125,000 years ago to extract fat from animal bones. Until then, the oldest record was Homo sapiens processing animal bones 28,000 years ago, but it turned out that humanity's cousins preceded them by far.
The Dutch team found fragments of large animal bones that had been chopped into small pieces, along with traces of fire such as charcoal or scorched granite, in central Germany. The team inferred this as evidence that bones were boiled to extract high-calorie marrow fat. However, they did not find the tools used to start the fire.
The team said the dates of the tools found this time match the period when Neanderthal brain size approached modern levels. As humans became able to light fires anywhere without relying on lightning or wildfires, they could live in cold places. Above all, by cooking root crops and meat, they removed toxins and improved digestion. Through this, they could supply the fuel needed for brains that had grown much larger than before, the team explained.
Fire also spurred social development. The team said, "By lighting fires at night, people could share information needed for hunting or gathering and make tools, leading to rapid social development," adding, "Through fire, humans were able to procure food and form bonds in larger and more complex social groups."
Vandevelde of the University of Quebec said, "If the ability to make fire is this old, mastery and habitual use of fire may go back even further," adding, "Future work should more closely search for traces of flames at ancient sites."
References
Nature(2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09855-6
Nature(2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03735-9
Science Advances(2025), DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adv1257